ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN COGNITION. EXAPTATION, COEVOLUTION AND COGNITIVE EMERGENCE

Abstract

The psychobiological mechanisms by which the genus Homo developed its cognitive abilities have focused on evolutionary genetics and the action of its particular social and cultural environment, but their concrete articulation is still far from being known. This study analyses how the culture of human niches takes on an especially important role in the cognitive development of human populations. The cultural and social mechanisms used to achieve the development of their cognitive capacities and even the beginning of new ones would be exaptation, co-evolution, and emergence. As an example of this evolutionary form, an analysis of causal cognition is proposed.